27.7.2006
52 days to the election
There are only 52 days left to the Swedish parliamentary election. July is the traditional summer holiday month in Sweden (and in the rest of Scandinavia), and as the whole Europe has been sweating under a serious heat wave during July, the political activity has been naturally less intense than normally. But as the outdoor temperatures will gradually start to sink and the people return back home from their summer cottages, the political temperature is bound to rise again in Sweden.
The growth of the Swedish Pirate Party has settled down from the huge boost that followed the May 31 Pirate Bay raid but the party still keeps growing. The present membership is 7585, and the closest rival Green Party (Miljöpartiet) has 7862 members.
The present popularity of Pirate Party among voters is an enigma. Various polls have given so different figures that the popular support might theoretically be anything between 0 and 20 percent. With some 12.000 people already participated,
demokrati.nu's online poll gives the party a promising 16.3% support, led only by the largest Swedish party Social Democrats (25.4%) and the country's second largest party Moderaterna (23.6%). The official membership suggests a popularity around 4.5 %, and this is also the estimate of the party leader Rick Falkvinge. The party will need 4 % of the votes in the September 17 election to get its representatives to the parliament.